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CNN Sunday Morning
Man's Ascent of Mount Everest a Spiritual Journey
Aired April 29, 2001 - 09:37 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: For Jamling Tenzing Norgay, climbing Mount Everest in 1996 was not only a personal adventure but an intimate one. In 1953, Norgay's father became the first man to stand atop Everest, catapulting him to hero status among his people. Norgay passed away while his son was in college but his historic achievement created a desire within his son to understand the spiritual side to this mountain, a connection, Jamling had to make in order to truly connect to his father's soul.
Well, he was right. Jamling Tenzing Norgay joins us from San Francisco to talk about that connection, his journey up Mount Everest and his new book, "Touching My Father's Soul: A Sherpa's Journey to the Top of Everest."
Jamling, great to see you.
JAMLING TENZING NORGAY, "TOUCHING MY FATHER'S SOUL": Hi, good to see you, Kyra.
PHILLIPS: Let's start by talking about -- there's been a lot of books written about climbs to Mount Everest. Yours is very different from the perspective of a Sherpa. Let's talk about your culture and the connection with your culture and Mount Everest.
NORGAY: Now, I mean writing "Touching My Father's Soul," I wanted to convey what I learned from my -- you know, from my father and the pilgrimage I took to climb this mountain.
And we, Sherpas, look at Everest differently. Mount Everest is, we believe, a goddess really called Miolantanima (ph). And she is the goddess that resides on Everest. And it's sort of a pilgrimage for us to climb this mountains. And we climb these with respect.
PHILLIPS: A lot of the climbers take on Mount Everest, you know, as -- for the challenge and not the spiritual quest. Do you think that's dangerous?
NORGAY: Well, I think the most important thing is that you need to climb with right motivation. And anything you do in life because of ego or you know, arrogance, it can only lead to trouble.
PHILLIPS: Well, let's talk about the 1996 expedition that you took. And do you think maybe a lack of understanding with regard to the Sherpa culture contributed to what happened on that trip? NORGAY: Yes, I think there's a lot of factors that contributed to what happened in '96. And we believe -- you know, we, Sherpas, that pride and arrogance can kill people, kill climbers on the mountain and disrespect to the mountain, you know, defilement, polluting the mountain, you know, it can kill people on the mountain. And it can turn the goddess' ruffles sometimes.
But I think it was also accumulative of human error. There were a lot of mistakes made, you know, people were on the mountain too late and the weather broke down. And I think that's what caused this whole cycle.
PHILLIPS: Did you have the Dalai Llama's blessing? I know that he was praying for you.
NORGAY: Yes. I did not get his blessing in person, but he did pray for me.
PHILLIPS: How did you finally connect with your father's soul? I mean this is the title of your book.
NORGAY: Yes. I think on -- you know, I was -- I touched his soul spiritually in knowing that he was with me the whole way. And just climbing this mountain and following his footsteps was something that was, know, I needed to do. It's more of you know, paying homage to my father and my mother. And getting to the summit was the highlight of the climb, you know. And I just felt that maybe he was up there looking down at me, you know, with a big smile saying, "Well, you didn't really come all this way."
PHILLIPS: But you needed to, definitely.
NORGAY: Yes, I needed to for myself in order to better understand what he had done, you know, what his experience was.
PHILLIPS: Jamling, when you finally got to the top of Mount Everest, tell me, can you really see the whole world?
NORGAY: Well, you can see as far as your eyes can see. And it's a great view to be up there. But you always think about now you have to come down because coming down can be a little more dangerous.
And I think I realized what my father said was you know, he said that you cannot actually see the whole world from the top. And it was what I learned on the way down from climbing this mountain, you know, about my father's -- you know, I did not learn about his myth but I learned about the adventure and what he went through in order to climb this mountain in 1953.
PHILLIPS: Would you do it again?
NORGAY: No. I think once is more than enough.
PHILLIPS: You have found the connection. Jamling Tenzing Norgay, it's a beautiful book. Your character is quite inspiring. It's called "Touching My Father's Soul: A Sherpa's Journey To The Top of Everest." Thanks so much for being with us this morning.
NORGAY: Well, thank you very much.
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